Coincidence

Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now Baby Blue has always fascinated me. I liked the seeming disjointed word-play and odd imagery. The line “take what you have gathered from coincidence” seems to pop into my head at odd times.

I’d always thought it meant something like…

You’ve been warned! Why haven’t you been paying attention?
The line, taken to heart, could lead anywhere from stupid superstitions to the discovery of penicillin.
Keep your mind open – you are being shown the way.

It's All Over Now Baby Blue
by Bob Dylan

You must leave, now take what you need
You think will last
But whatever you wish to keep
You better grab it fast

Yonder stands your orphan with his gun
Crying like a fire in the Sun
Look out baby, the saints are comin' through
And it's all over now, baby blue

The highway is for gamblers
Better use your sense
Take what you have gathered
From coincidence

The empty handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets
The sky too is fallin' in over you
And it's all over now, baby blue

Leave your stepping stones behind
There's something that calls for you
Forget the debt you've left
That will not follow you

Your lover who has just walked through the door
Has taken all his blankets from the floor
The carpet too is foldin' over you
And it's all over now baby blue

Well, strike another match
Yeah, go start new, go start new
'Cause it's all over now, baby blue

Perhaps related to the lyrics of Judy Collins’ beautiful song Nightingale:

Jacob’s heart bent with fear,
Like a bow with death for its arrow;
In Vain he search for the final truth
To set his soul free of doubt.

but Jacob’s heart is shadowed by sorrow and doubt, and causes him to miss the beauty surrounding him

While the plums that [the nightingale] broke with her brown beak,
Tomorrow would turn in to songs.

Jacob put back his frowns and sighed…
“God doesn’t answer me
and He never will”

David Weir’s Analysis

There is a fascinating analysis of It’s All Over Now Baby Blue by David Weir. He frames the lyrics as a spiritual battle of someone who suddenly realizes she has lost everything. Then she searches for meaning (possibly following a devastating breakup), for a path forward, for reassurance that she is choosing the moral path.

I can’t do justice to Mr. Weir’s analysis, but he’s just a click away….

Hope
The song is a fine representation of someone’s mental state as they oscillate between decisive action and despair. – David Weir

Wheeler, a commentator to Mr. Weir’s blog, offers some thoughtful insights:

“The highway is for gamblers” – time to get up and take a risk, but you “better use your sense”. However, nothing actually makes sense, hence the next line “take what you have gathered from coincidence.” It’s really a solid juxtaposition, because what sense is there in coincidence? – Wheeler

There are, of course, a plethora of opinions about these lyrics,

Peter Lovering’s Art: Take What You Have Gathered By Coincidence

I hadn’t heard of Mr. Lovering, of Edinburgh, Scotland, prior to seeing this painting today:

**Take What You Have Gathered By Coincidence** by Peter Lovering

He has some beautiful work. A portrait of MLK is titled from a King quote: Forgiveness Is Not An Occasional Act / It Is A Constant Attitude.

**Forgiveness Is Not An Occasional Act / It Is A Constant Attitude** by Peter Lovering

Mr. Lovering has an expansive and varied catalog. Here’s a collection of my favorites. All these (and many more) can be found on Mr. Lovering’s web site.